Closer Productions receives Gender Matters Funding

Closer is very excited to announce that it has been a successful recipient of Screen Australia's new Gender Matters program.

This week Screen Australia announced $3 million worth of funding across 45 story ideas and 13 industry projects from around the country. The initiative is designed to fast track the development of female key creatives, and address the ongoing gender imbalance in the film industry. It was the largest group of projects funded in a single day in the organisation's histroy.

Sophie and Bec were successful in their application for the Brilliant Careers program. The funding will allow Closer to further support the careers of their existing female principals and offer opportunities for new talent.

Committed to identifying and supporting exceptional female voices, Closer's early development fund will allow the company to nurture identified talent and allow women's stories to flourish.

Huge thanks to Screen Australia, and congratulations to the gigantic group of talented women recognised by the program! You can read all about it here.

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Closer attends Good Pitch 2016 at the Sydney Opera House!

This week, Closer Productions attended the 2017 Goodpitch event at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney. Good Pitch provides filmmakers with the opportunity to present feature documentaries with a strong focus on social issues to NGOs, philanthropists, and other potential partners, to help foster profile and outreach funding for the work.

Closer attended as producers of filmmaker Maya Newell’s (GAYBY BABY) new project, KIDS, which examines the ways indigenous families and communities, often under extreme circumstances, are striving to pass on cultural knowledge – as presented through the eyes of children living in the Northern Territory. Maya has been developing her relationship with the Arrernte Elders in Alice Springs for seven years. KIDS is produced by Closer’s Sophie Hyde alongside Maya and Rachel Edwardson.

Closer’s Matthew Bate is also a writer for another Goodpitch project, GUILTY, directed by visual artist Matthew Sleeth. GUILTY is a documentary / drama hybrid that provides an intimate portrait of Myuran Sukumaran, one of the “Bali Nine”, who was executed by firing squad alongside fellow Australian Andrew Chan in April 2015.

This is a huge step forward for KIDS - such a fantastic response to a project we’re really excited about. A huge thanks to the entire Goodpitch team and Shark Institute, the Arrente community and the partners on the day for such a thrilling opportunity. And now, time to get to work!

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'To Look Away' in Adelaide!

Some of the clever Closer folk made a 5-screen visual art work called 'To Look Away' as part of Carriageworks major exhibition 24 Frames Per Second in Sydney 2015.

Now a select bunch of stunning works from that exibition, including To Look Away, is finally showing in Adelaide, at the new ACE Open from 25 May.

'To Look Away' was created by Closer-ites Sophie Hyde and Bryan Mason, in a long-loving collaboration with Restless Dance Theatre.

Sophie Hyde: "I love this piece, which features portraits of some of the Restless Dance Theatre ensemble and some amazing people we worked with on 52 TUESDAYS, Tilda and Zoe. Huge thanks to those who made it with us. It kicks off a big few days with lots of live work and panels, etc."

Come along to the opening this Thursday 5-7pm and then the exhibition runs until the 1st July. More details here.

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OUTSTANDING AUSTRALIAN CAST COMMENCES PRODUCTION ON F*CKING ADELAIDE

OUTSTANDING AUSTRALIAN CAST COMMENCES MAKING A LONG STORY SHORT WITH CLOSER PRODUCTIONS’ F*CKING ADELAIDE

An outstanding Australian cast has been announced for F*CKING ADELAIDE, a 6-part comedy drama series for ABC iview . Headlined by AFI, Helpmann and Green Room Award-winning Australian icon Pamela Rabe (Wentworth, Cosi), Tilda Cobham-Hervey (52 Tuesdays,Barracuda, The Kettering Incident, Hotel Mumbai), Kate Box (Rake, The Little Death), and singer, songwriter, actor, Brendan McLean (The Great Gatsby, Tracks). Production commenced this week in – you guessed it – Adelaide.

F*CKING ADELAIDE is the new production from Closer Productions, the creative South Australian team andSAFC Seed company behind the groundbreaking and internationally award winning feature film 52 Tuesdays.

Commissioned by the ABC and Screen Australia through their Long Story Short initiative, F*CKING ADELAIDE was one of 6 successful projects out of 290 applicants. The series has received additional funding from the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC).

ABC will premiere F*CKING ADELAIDE online on its iview platform in 2017.

Three close but disparate siblings reunite in Adelaide. But when they discover their mother is selling their childhood home, their middle class freedoms and sense of security is rocked and they are forced to confront a past that none of them can let go of. Each 12 minute episode is told through the unique point of view of one of the characters.

F*CKING ADELAIDE is directed by Sophie Hyde, produced by Rebecca Summerton and Sophie Hyde and written by Matthew Cormack and Matt Vesely.

Director/Producer Sophie Hyde said “It’s a total delight for me to work with this stunning ensemble cast and to be creating this funny, and at times heartbreaking series in our home-town and alongside the crew we know and trust. It’s refreshing to reclaim the jokes about Adelaide and laugh at ourselves while utilising all the things we relish about this city and speaking to the experience of family and home. We are also thrilled to partnering with our investors to create work for ABC’s ever more exciting digital platform ABC iview, which gives us the opportunity to be playful with the episodic form and allows audiences to watch whenever they want”

“The competition for Long Story Short was about as fierce as any funding round ever gets,” said Mike Cowap, Investment Manager, Screen Australia. “The Closer team shone through with this moving, profound, and hilariously well-observed story about family and place, ably supported by their rich body of previous work.”

Said ABC Head of Comedy Rick Kalowski, “F*cking Adelaide is one of the most innovative, sophisticated scripted shows ABC iview has yet commissioned, from one of the most talented production teams in the country. We’re thrilled to continue our collaboration with Screen Australia Multiplatform, and to renew ours with The South Australian Film Corporation, with whom we hope to work frequently in the next few years”.

CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation, Annabelle Sheehan said “Closer Productions is an innovative filmmaking collective who are part of a distinctly South Australian new wave of filmmakers. Their work represents a unique creative voice in the Australian screen landscape. Being selected as one of 6 projects from almost 300 applications confirms how dynamic and compelling South Australian stories are.”

All key creatives and Heads of Department are South Australian. The series will shoot from early December through to mid-January on location in Adelaide and South Australia.